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It's been a while since we posted. Back in October 2015 I mentioned that I was fixing my old mountain bike. It was a blue Probike Lazer, what many people would refer to as a BSO (bike shaped object), but something I had loved since I was a teenager. Shortly after that old post, I bought an old Townsend ladies mountain bike in a sparkly pink colour. I paid about a tenner for it, but my plan was to give it a nice paint job and generally sort it out for my wife to ride.

My son got involved - I think he wanted his mum to have a bike so that he could spend even more time on his bike. We painted the bike a nice red colour, and adjusted brakes and gears, and put on a new saddle and tyres. In the end we had a fairly tidy bike, although the technology was older - old style brakes and thumb shifters and 15 gears (3x5). We presented this to my wife, who said she loved it but the frame was too big for her. My son wasn't happy.
In the meantime, I had fixed up my old bike. However, it had b…

While travelling to Crete recently (more on that later), Ruth though it would be a good idea to buy one of those little magnetic travel games - the type with Ludo, Chess, and Snakes and Ladders. One afternoon I showed Charlie how to play chess. Now let's be clear, I got the rules wrong and had my bishops and knights trading movements, so I'm no chess player. The only issue is that Charlie loved chess and he managed to beat me!

This shouldn't happen. Admittedly I was going easy on him, pointing out where he might be making a mistake, but I did NOT let him win. As soon as I made a mistake he was straight in there outmanoevuring me. Checkmate.

So began my little fling with chess. I started practicing against Charlie or against a phone app. Charlie and I went off and learnt the rules together. We went to Argos and bought the Kasparov Wooden Chess Set - a smallish board and small wooden pieces that should last a lifetime.

Lathar Na means the lands of Lathar - Lathar being the son of an Irish High King. It is anglicised as Larne, on the North East Coast of (Northern) Ireland. It is the oldest inhabited spot in Ireland, and has been visited by Romans and Vikings. The Vikings liked it more than the Romans and stayed for a bit.

It is my home town, where I still live. We fight dragons in the winter.....

I was walking the dog along our old Victorian promenade the other night. The promenade runs along Waterloo Bay, an area of eroded limestone cliffs, atop a basalt shelf, with granite shot through by tectonic uplift. It was a clear starry night after another wet day. The waterfall beside the promenade was in full flow, where sometimes it is a tiny trickle. There wasn't a sinner about so I had the dog off the lead, charging about. Suddenly he stopped to stare into the darkness below the promenade. There on the rocks was a large heron. It looked at us and flew off. I chuckled to myself and thought, "Sure…